00:00 Hello!

00:55 Upcoming Changes and Announcements

02:05 Bible Study: First Kings 22 and Second Chronicles 18

03:46 The Prophecy and Its Implications

09:11 The Battle and Its Outcome

13:48 Lessons and Reflections

15:02 Closing Prayer and Farewell

Find out more about Compass Bible Church.

Learn more about our Bible Reading Plan.

Questions or Comments? Email us podcast@compassntx.org

Happy Lord's Day to you, and thank you for joining me for another

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edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.

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It is Sunday and it's time

for us to go back to church.

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I hope you're making your way today.

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Maybe you're listening to

this on the way to church.

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In that case, I am doubly honored

that you would do that because if

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you're coming to our church that is

Compass Bible Church of North Texas,

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you'll see me in the pulpit as well.

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I hope that's not too much of me.

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In one day, I'd probably be tired

of myself if I heard me that much,

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so I can imagine where you might be.

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In any case, I'm grateful that

you're coming and I hope that

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you have an amazing Lord's date,

wherever it is that you go to church.

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But before we get there, we need to

cover one, two big chapters of the

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Bible, but really one, because they're

both pretty similar in their content

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and this is one of those cases where

First Kings 22 and second Chronicles

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18 really align pretty closely.

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There are a few minor differences,

but really nothing that's so

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noteworthy that it would take an

extended conversation on each chapter.

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Let me remind you, this is

the last Sunday I'll be in the

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pulpit for Compass North Texas.

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Pastor PJ should be back this week,

so thank you for praying for that.

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We're hopeful and optimistic that he'll

come back energized and ready to go,

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which reminds me, I forgot to tell you,

I'm gonna be out for a few weeks as well.

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I was talking about.

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Having my partner in crime again in

the next couple days, and I totally

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forgot I was gonna be out too, so sorry.

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You're gonna have Pastor PJ for just

a few weeks and then I'll be back.

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And then I think we're gonna be back

together for several months before

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either one of us are out of the

office again, which I'm sure will

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be a welcome reprieve for all of us.

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I don't like doing it by myself.

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He doesn't like doing it by himself.

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Neither one of us like this arrangement,

but we do it because we need time

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off and that's a good thing and I'm

sure you guys recognize that as well.

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But all of us want things back

the way they're supposed to be.

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That's when all is good in the world.

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So with that, please pray

for me as I prepare to leave.

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You'll still hear two more days of me

on the podcast 'cause obviously I'm

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recording ahead, so I'm not gone yet, at

least from your podcast channels here.

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But I will be gone from the office

and god willing, I'll be down in New

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Braunfels with the family, enjoying

some much needed away time with

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the kids swimming and hiking or who

knows what else we might be doing.

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Okay, let's jump into First Kings 28.

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We'll use this as our baseline

chapter to operate from.

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Although if there's anything

important from Second Chronicles

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18, I'll refer to that here.

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But First Kings 22 is

really what I'm looking at.

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Okay, so we have Syria and Israel

without war for a period of time.

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Now, remember, Syria, Damascus,

these are important people that

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are always in opposition in some

way, shape, or form to Israel.

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Remember Ben Hayad the first

and Ben Hayad the second.

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We now have a time of peace,

but in the third year.

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And Jeh APHA enters the equation and it

seems based on putting second Chronicles

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18 and First Kings 22, together, it seems

like Ahab is trying to woo him into a

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partnership because in Second Chronicles

18, it says, after some years he went down

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to Ahab in Samaria, and Ahab killed an

abundance of sheep in oxen for him, for

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the people who were with him and induced

him to go up against Ray Moth Gilead.

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There's a little bit of political

maneuvering happening here,

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and Phat falls prey to it.

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He says, look we need to get back Ray

Moth, Gilead from the King of Syria.

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Will you join me?

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And then Phat says, Hey, I'm in.

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I am as you are my people.

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As your people, my horses.

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As your horses.

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Phat wisely requests something

before they enter into battle.

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He asks King Ahab, Hey,

how about we consult?

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A word from the Lord.

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How about we ask God what

he thinks about this?

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And that's probably a really

good posture for you to take.

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I remember James, the brother of

Jesus in the flesh in his book says,

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don't assume that you're gonna go here

and do this and make that prophet.

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He says, instead, how

about you ask the Lord?

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And if you say, if the Lord wills

we'll do this or that in this case,

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this is what Jeha Apha asks for.

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And so he does that.

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Except not quite, because he gathers

the prophets together about 400 men, and

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he said to them, Hey, should we go up?

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And they say, yes, go up.

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God's gonna give victory.

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But PHA recognizes these are not prophets

of the Lord, which is why he asks in

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verse seven of one Kings 22, is there

not a prophet of Yahweh that we can ask?

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And then the King of Israel says, well,

yes, but he hates me and I hate him.

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I don't like docking him because he never

concerns, he never gives because he never

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prophesies good concerning me, but evil.

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And then Jha asked Hey, don't sweat it.

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Let's try him.

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Anyway, so they bring him in,

they coach him a little bit.

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This guy by the name of

Mackay, the son of Ila.

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And so he shows up to the threshing

floor at the entrance of the gate of

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Samaria and one of their prophets, not

of Yahweh, Zakiah, the son of Canna.

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Does this cool thing

with the dramatic effect.

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He puts horns of irons on his head

and he says, thus says the Lord.

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He uses Yahweh's name here with these,

you shall push the Syrians until they are

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destroyed and all the prophets prophesied

so, and said, go up and triumph.

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The Lord will give it into your hand.

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And so Miciah entering into

this party here recognizes

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that he's in a losing battle.

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And so Mackay says, as the Lord

lives what the Lord says to me.

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I gotta speak.

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I'm gonna speak honestly.

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And yes, when he's asked, the first time

he answers, he says, go up in triumph.

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The Lord will give it

into the hand of the king.

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But there appears to be an awareness

of, I don't know, the sarcasm and irony

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that's happening here because in verse

16, Ahab says, how many times shall I

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make you swear that you speak to me?

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Nothing but the truth in the name of the

Lord and the irony's richer because it's

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not typically the case he hates when miah.

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Answers him honestly.

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And he never prophesied good,

he just previously said.

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And so it's ironic that now he's

being forced to ask Mackay to speak

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to him the truth, which, why, by

the way, Mackay, since you're going

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to church today, Mackay is the

longer form of the short name Micah.

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Micah is the prophet that we're

studying today, and the minor prophets.

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And both of those names

mean who is like the Lord.

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Interesting, isn't it?

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Anyhow, this is what we're reading.

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Mackay.

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Mackay enters in and says,

okay, while you ask for the

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truth, I'm gonna give it to you.

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And he offers a short word.

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Verse 17, I saw all Israel

scattered on the mountains as

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sheep that have no shepherd.

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This is pretty clear.

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They're not gonna win.

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They're gonna be scattered

on the mountains.

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And the shepherd that they used to have

is no longer there suggesting death.

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And then King, the Ahab says

to Jeh, I told you this is

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exactly what I was afraid of.

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But then mackay opens up

the door just a little more.

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Mackay says, and this is where it

gets really interesting, because

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this is something that I am, I

feel like I'm above my pay grade

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here, but here's what he says.

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Therefore, hear the word of the Lord.

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So this is something God is showing him.

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I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and

all the host of heaven standing beside

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him on his right hand and on his left.

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Okay?

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So you imagine the Lord with a

heavenly counsel, all the host

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of heaven who are these beings

per the angelic realm it seems.

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But perhaps there's more there

because here's what happens.

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I.

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He says this, who will entice Ahab that

he may go up and fall at Ray Moth, Gilead.

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And one said one thing, one said another,

and then a spirit came forward and stood

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before the Lord saying, I will entice him.

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And the Lord said, by what means?

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How will you do that?

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And he says, I will go out and

I will be a lying spirit in

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the mouth of all his profits.

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Wow.

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This is fascinating.

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Because God now says, okay,

that's what you're gonna do and

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you're gonna succeed at that.

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And therefore, verse 23 says, the

Lord has put a lying spirit in the

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mouth of all these, your prophets.

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The Lord has declared disaster for you.

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Wow.

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What is happening?

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Okay, couple thoughts here.

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Number one, notice that Maccha says that

what's happening in the profits is real.

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That is Ahab's prophets are

prophesying by a spirit.

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There is something genuine happening

there, except though it's a genuine

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spiritual interaction, it is an

evil spirit that's behind it.

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Now, what's more interesting is

that how is that spirit anywhere

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near the presence of God?

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And furthermore, how is God endorsing or

at least allowing this spirit to operate?

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And those are questions I can't answer.

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All I know is that what we have

here is Macia saying this is

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what God has revealed to him.

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God has allowed this

lying spirit to operate.

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And so even though God himself , is not

the cause of this lying, it's a spirit.

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God has certainly allowed it, which

tells me that God is sovereignly

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over all things, including evil.

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Your vision of God is probably too

small because it has to include

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things like this where God can operate

doing, good all the time, of course,

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but allowing and permitting evil.

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This is a hard and difficult

thing to wrap your mind around,

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but we have no way to escape it.

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We see it right here

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in verse 24.

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Zedekiah, the son of, Ana came near

and smacked Miciah on the cheek.

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This is a meant to be

a shame and a dishonor.

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And he says, how is the spirit of the

Lord jumping from me to go to you?

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And on it goes.

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And then eventually King

Ahab says, sees Macia.

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And then the king says, put this fellow

in prison and feed him me rations of

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bread and water until I come in peace.

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And McKay says, if you come back,

the Lord is not spoken by me.

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And then he says, by the way, all

y'all in this room hear all you

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peoples, he wants everyone to know

what's about to take place while

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Miciah is a prophet of the Lord.

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So we expect his words to come true.

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And that's exactly what

happens in verse 29.

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We get to see what the battle looks like.

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But the king of Ahab, the King of Israel,

Ahab thinks he's gonna pull a fast one.

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And he says, how about

this king Jeh shaphat?

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I'll disguise myself so that no one knows

that I'm the king, but you still go out as

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the king and let's just see what happens.

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I don't know what Jehoshaphat's

thinking at this point in

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time, but he accepts the terms.

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He accepts the terms, and he goes

out and he wears his king kingly

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regalia while Ahab is hiding himself.

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Well, what happens here is interesting

as well because they find the king and

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in fact, the king of Syria says to his

people, fight with nobody except the king.

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Find the king of Israel.

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Go after that guy.

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Let's take him out.

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And so they initially think,

jehoshaphat's the guy, but they

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realize, oh, that's not him.

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And so they withdraw.

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What's interesting here is

in verse 32, it only says in.

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It only says in verse 32 that PHA cried

out, but it's better in second Chronicles.

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Instead of him just crying out, it

says that he cried out to the Lord.

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In fact, here's what it says

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They say it's the king of Israel.

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So they turn to fight against him, and

Pha cried out and the Lord helped him.

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God drew them away from him.

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So Jehoshaphat's cry in One Kings

22, verse 32 seems to be generic,

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but in two Chronicles 18, we see that

it's actually a cry out to the Lord.

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Tophat has a relationship with Yahweh,

the covenant God of Israel and Judah.

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And it's evident here

because God delivers him.

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He doesn't deliver Ahab.

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In verse 34, it says, A certain

man drew his boat at random.

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The Hebrew actually says in his

innocence, that is, he's just shooting.

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Who knows what this guy's up to?

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He, maybe he's a new guy and he

doesn't quite know where to shoot

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the air, so he just shoots it in

the air at random, and then it lands

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exactly where God wants it to land.

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It hits King Ahab between the

scale armor and the breastplate.

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Some have described this particular part.

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Of flesh that's available to

be only the size of a nickel.

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Now, this is impossible.

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That's what we're saying.

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This is something that could not happen

apart from God's providential ordination.

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He's leading things as he wants.

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And so then he says,

look, get me outta here.

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I'm wounded, and he tries to stand

up until the end of the fight.

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Eventually he dies.

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And verse 36, about sunset,

a cry went out to the army.

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Every man to his city, every man

to his country, the king's dead.

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Basically our battle has been lost.

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Here I.

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And so they buried him in Samaria.

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But notice verse 38 here, they washed

the chariot by the pul of Samaria

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and the dogs licked up his blood.

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And also the prostitutes

do their own thing with it.

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But notice the dogs licking at the blood.

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Does that sound familiar at all?

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If so, and it's because earlier God

predicted that this would take place.

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Remember Ahab repented, and so God didn't

bring about the catastrophe immediately.

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But because Ahab's repentance

only lasted for a short time, God

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did eventually bring it about.

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And here it is right here, one Kings 2238.

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In fact, lemme give you the

cross reference in case you're

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taking notes in your Bible here.

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The other reference is One Kings 2119.

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That's where the initial

prophecy takes place.

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Remember, in the intervening chapter,

Ahab Repent and things are delayed.

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But here we have the prophecy fulfilled.

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Ahab slept with his fathers and now ahh

Isaiah, his son, reigns in his place.

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We have a brief note here on Phat

Jehoshaphat's Reign is compressed,

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but we're gonna get a lot more

detail about him in Chronicles and

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we're gonna cover that very soon.

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But suffice it to say, at

least for now, he does what's

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right in the side of the Lord.

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Verse 30 43.

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He's a good king.

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He's one of the good kings, and

he does good in God's sight,

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even though he makes some pretty

serious errors in his leadership.

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He still overall is considered a

good king and so phat, and we're

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gonna put a pen and we'll come

back to him soon when Phat dies.

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Horam also known as Jo.

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Reigns in his place and we'll get

to him in a few chapters as well.

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Ahh.

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Isaiah steps into the place of Ahab now.

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Ahh.

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Isaiah and Jeh that are also

gonna interact with one another

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and we'll find out soon enough.

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That's not a good situation, but, ahh.

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Isaiah's verdict, verse 52.

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He did what was evil in

the sight of the Lord.

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Walked in the way of his father

and in the way of his mother.

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And in the way of Jira

B, the son of Nebat.

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Remember, JIRA B is the first king

of the Northern Kingdom Israel.

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He does evil to golden calves.

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And Dan and Beersheba, not a good

dude, sets up his own feasts.

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He's bad, and so he's saying a

hisi here, walking in the same

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path, not changing anything at all.

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This is bad news for Israel, but we're

not surprised at this point because

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this is what we've seen so far.

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Now a his I only rules for two years.

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So it's not a very long reign,

but still even two years of

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bad is two years too long.

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Okay.

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What lessons can we draw from this?

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I think there's gonna be a few lessons

that we're gonna see thematically in

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Jha, if that's life, but at least right

now, let's just notice first of all that

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God is in control of both good and evil.

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I brought this up, I highlighted

this for you when we saw Mackay's

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vision, but just keep this in mind.

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Anything that happens to you in

your life is over the sovereign.

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Is under rather the

sovereign oversight of God.

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And that should be

enormously comforting to us.

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That means nothing can happen

to us outside of God's will.

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He's perfect.

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He's good.

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He's just, he will always

do what's right, even in his

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permission of evil coming upon you.

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Secondly, notice that Jeh.

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Ifat finds himself in hot water

because of his companionship.

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Scriptures replete with.

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Admonitions against having close

relationships with people that are

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unbelievers of not being unequally yoked.

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And therefore, you ought to see in this

situation here, in this example, a reason

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for you to closely guard your friendships

and closely guard your acquaintances.

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This is a good reason for you to be

wise in who you allow into your life.

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There's probably a lot more

here and I'd love to hear if you

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have any thoughts about that.

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Maybe you guys wanna send us an

email at podcast@ntxcompassntx.org

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and let us know what you think about that.

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But that's only have for now.

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Let's pray together and

let's close this thing out.

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God, we thank you for your wise and.

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Beneficial scriptures.

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They're so beneficial to our

lives because they teach us.

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And in a narrative like this, we ask that

you would help us to draw out applications

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and implications for our lives.

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Help us to see your wisdom on display.

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In fact, help us to be

like Mackay, who's un.

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Unconcerned, at least in some

ways of offending other people.

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He's willing to stand for

truth and say what is true,

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even if it costs him his life.

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We wanna be bold like him.

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We want to be careful.

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Unlike Jeh, we don't wanna build

evil alliances with people like Ahab.

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We want you to protect us.

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On the other hand, Lord, we also

wanna be in friendships with people

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that are unbelievers for their sake.

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Help us to know how to wisely

navigate those things and as

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we wrap up First Kings today.

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Lord, please give us grace

to plow through Second Kings.

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Going back and forth from different

kings is actually pretty challenging,

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so please give us a stamina to

pay close attention, Lord, and to

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learn a lot from these chapters.

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We ask for your blessing today,

not only over our Bible reading,

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but also over our church attending.

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May we learn much from you

and grow in our walk with you.

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In Jesus name, amen.

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Thank you so much for joining me.

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It's my pleasure and

privilege to do this with you.

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Hopefully I'll see you again tomorrow

for one more edition and perhaps

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maybe two or three more or four more.

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Let's see what happens.

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A Daily Bible podcast.

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I'll see you then.

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PJ: thanks for listening to another

edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.

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This is a ministry of Compass

Bible Church in north Texas.

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You can find out more information

about ourChurch@compassntx.org.

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We would love for you to leave a

review to rate to share this podcast

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on whatever platform you happen to

be listening on, and we will catch

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you against tomorrow for another

edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.